Valencia's Diego Alves: Point against Chelsea might qualify us for Champions League knock-out stage

By Stefan Coerts

The Brazilian goalkeeper was pleased with the final outcome of Wednesday's game and has stated that the draw could prove to be crucial later in the competition

Valencia goalkeeper Diego Alves has underlined the importance of his side's 1-1 Champions League Group E draw at home against Chelsea on Wednesday evening.

The Spanish side fought back after falling 1-0 behind shortly after the interval and eventually managed to salvage a draw courtesy of a Roberto Soldado spot-kick and some impressive saves from Alves.

"We had five extremely stressful minutes of constant Chelsea chances. But we fought to stay in the game, got away with it and this vital point might, eventually, qualify us for the knock-out stage,"Alves told uefa.com.

"I know that if I pull off saves my team-mates get confidence and it inspires them. But if the rest of the guys hadn't worked so hard then my saves wouldn't have earned us a result."

Valencia are third in Group E, one point behind second placed Bayer Leverkusen and two behind leaders Chelsea. Belgians Genk prop up the table.